As spooky season arrived, horror games were spiking in popularity. Though Halloween has since passed, like their movie counterparts, horror games’ relevancy never expires. Luckily, there’s no shortage of horror game titles or new releases that are making their way across Steam, a website where you can download and buy games. After all, there’s nothing better than an interactive story that gets the adrenaline pumping. Below are the ranks of all the top rated horror games. 

5. Phasmophobia

An investigative horror game that recently gained traction in 2020 during the pandemic is available to play with friends. There’s also a solo mode available to players who want to brave it on their own. Generally, the player works in a group as a ghost hunter to inspect and explore a potential paranormal case by using equipment that can recognize the player’s voice, along with key phrases and words. Allowing the game to hear the player increases the stakes, as it makes it feel all the more real. While other games are based mostly around an unchangeable storyline, Phasmophobia and its ghosts, gadgets and other players, revolve directly around the player and their real time actions. At the same time, it’s still a reasonably lighthearted game especially if played with companions, and is not likely to keep one up at night. 

4. Roblox Horror Games

Going with the theme of lighthearted horror games, these games are a safe option for kids and teens who would like to experiment with horror. Additionally, they are free and easily accessible. Many of these games are multiplayer and are not usually time consuming. Players can create their own games too. Some top horror game titles on Roblox include: The Mimic, Alice, Teddy Friends, Intrusion, Doors and The Mystery of Duvall Drive. 

3. Fran Bow

For people who may not like investigative or aggressive horror games, Fran Bow is a point-and-click psychological horror/graphic adventure game. It centers around puzzles and lore, having a set-in-stone story. Fran Bow follows a young girl sent to a mental institution after watching her parents’ murder. Having frequent hallucinations, she enters and exits different levels of reality, claiming to see alternate dimensions without the game confirming whether or not these claims have any truth to them. This leaves room for a lot of theorizing, and as the game progresses, it becomes less grounded, with the end being almost entirely up to interpretation. Additionally, this is a rather long game, with most run throughs lasting around eight to nine hours. 

2. Silent Hill 2 

Rated as the scariest horror game of all time, the original was made in 2001 and still hasn’t had any damage to its reputation. The second installation in the Silent Hill games is a singleplayer survival horror game, involving the story of James Sunderland in his pursuit after his dead wife who apparently had written him a letter despite being dead for three years. He encounters many characters who are equally as troubled, and many monsters which infest Silent Hill, the town he’s searching for his wife in. While this may be dubbed as the scariest game, it’s core is based off triggering and heavy themes, such as depression, grief and suicide. The characters resonate with players as they become emotionally attached and invested in the story, making it worthy of its title of the scariest game. Motoi Okmoto, the creator, confirmed an upcoming remake to Silent Hill. The gameplay and release date are still unknown, but it’ll be available to play on the PS5. 

1. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Resident Evil has been a top rated horror franchise for nearly three decades now, with the release of the first and original game being in 1996. And still, despite there being a newer Resident Evil game launched just last year, Resident Evil 8: Village, Biohazard is still arguably the best horror game in the franchise. It managed to bring life back to the Resident Evil franchise, by keeping many elements that attracted people to Resident Evil while incorporating first-person point of view into the first time. Moreover, players do not have to understand the entire lore of previous games to get into Biohazard. Taking about nine and a half hours to complete, at the very least, it’s a favorite for many people in the horror game community. Varying levels of difficulty, the story captures the hearts of gamers and it revolutionized Resident Evil and made a mark on the horror genre for all games that followed it.